Black Bolt is arguably the most powerful Inhuman and as their king he's battled many incredibly potent foes. His position in the Illuminati has reframed this Kirby-created character as a revenge-prone antihero in recent years. However, he's also cunning, and willing to make great sacrifices and ally himself with almost anyone to obtain the win. Combined with his power, he's managed to defeat many of Marvel's strongest heroes and villains.

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Black Bolt's powers include some fairly standard metahuman abilities, including Superman's powerset of strength, flight, and invulnerability. He also can project enormous amounts of energy. However, the weapon his friends and foes alike fear is his voice, which he's unleashed only against gods and monsters, and only when he was willing to completely destroy his surroundings.

10 Black Bolt Has Bested His Brother, Maximus, Many Times

Maximus from Marvel Comics' Inhumans

Black Bolt's brother, Maximus, is one of his oldest and most enduring foes. Maximus always coveted the throne of Attilan, and he never forgave Black Bolt for their parents' accidental death.

Maximus is a powerful telepath and has been able to easily control other Inhumans, including Black Bolt himself, over the years. Black Bolt's record against Maximus isn't perfect, but he's won more often than he's lost. Black Bolt's and Maximus's sibling relationship improved somewhat in recent years, but Maximus was ultimately killed by a Vox armor sent by the Kree to destroy the Inhumans.

9 Black Bolt Almost Beat Quicksilver To Death

Son Of M cover featuring Quicksilver standing still wearing a hooded coat while citizens rush around him in a busy city.

After M-Day, when Scarlet Witch depowered most of Earth's mutant population, her brother Quicksilver began trying to give those mutants their powers back. His first course of action was to steal the Terrigen Crystals, which give the Inhumans their unique powers. The Inhumans didn't take kindly to this, and the Terrigen Crystals had unpredictable adverse effects on the depowered mutants.

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Black Bolt and Medusa ultimately tracked down Quicksilver to a poor area of New York City. Black Bolt began to savagely beat Quicksilver for what he'd done. Black Bolt would have likely killed Pietro if it wasn't for Medusa's intervention.

8 Black Bolt "Killed" Cyclops And Helped Medusa Beat Emma Frost

A Victorian-style image of Emma Frost from Marvel Comics

After Black Bolt destroyed the floating city of Attilan in an attack on Thanos, a great Terrigen Cloud began moving across the Earth's surface, empowering all the lost tribes of Inhumans settled across the planet. However, the Terrigen Cloud also sterilized all mutants, and it gave many of them a fatal disease dubbed "M-Pox."

Cyclops succumbed to the disease, and Emma Frost decided to take vengeance on the Inhumans. She coaxed Black Bolt into killing an illusion of Cyclops to damage the relationship between mutants and Inhumans. This came to a climax with a war between the Inhumans and X-Men, and Black Bolt and Medusa managed to finally send Frost into a retreat.

7 After Being Imprisoned By Him, Black Bolt And Absorbing Man Killed The Jailer

The Inhuman Jailer from Marvel Comics

The Jailer is a powerful Inhuman who Maximus tricked into capturing Black Bolt. The Inhuman King found himself imprisoned next to Absorbing Man, a frequent foe of the Avengers. Blackagar and "Crusher" Creel became friends in captivity, and Absorbing Man seemed to sacrifice his own life to set Black Bolt free.

In reality, the Absorbing Man survived, but Black Bolt wouldn't learn this until he had a final showdown with the Jailer. The Jailer is a psychic vampire who can drain the life force of his victims. He also has the ability to possess other bodies and alter their physiology. Despite these incredible powers, Black Bolt was still able to kill the Jailer.

6 Black Bolt And The Inhumans Managed To Beat Back The Vox

The Kree Vox with scythe in Marvel Comics

What exactly a "Vox" is is still somewhat vague. It seems to be a powerful living suit of armor built by the Kree in order to capture and control living beings. The Kree Empire sent several Vox to exterminate the Inhumans. Many Inhumans were imprisoned by Vox suits, including Maximus, the second in line to the throne.

Black Bolt and Medusa, against all odds, led the surviving members of the Inhumans to beat back the Vox assault. Many Inhumans were killed, but the race still survives thanks to Black Bolt's and Medusa's leadership and power.

5 Black Bolt Had To Defeat His Own Son, Who Was Armed By Kang The Conqueror

Ahura Boltagon as Kang the Conqueror from Marvel Comics

In the weeks leading up to the Secret Wars' Final Incursion that destroyed the last two remaining alternate universes, Black Bolt took his young son, Ahura, to Kang the Conqueror. Kang exists outside the timestream, and Black Bolt wanted his son to survive even if everything else died. Kang took Ahura in.

After the restoration of the Multiverse, Black Bolt and a team of Inhumans went to take Ahura back from Kang. However, they only found an aged Ahura decked out in the armor and weaponry of Kang the Conqueror. In the end, Black Bolt was forced to kill Ahura.

4 Namor Was Condemned To A Dying World By Black Bolt And Black Panther

Namor with blood drifting up underwater from a bite on His neck

While trying to save Earth-616, the Avengers and the Illuminati worked together to destroy a dead Earth to keep it from colliding with their own reality. However, Black Panther had not forgiven Namor the Sub-Mariner for the destruction he wrought upon Wakanda, and Black Bolt decided to back T'Challa's play.

On a platform floating above the dead Earth, Black Panther stabbed Namor with the Ancestral Dagger before Black Bolt shouted Namor off the platform and onto the dead Earth moments before its destruction. Namor narrowly escaped death thanks to Thanos and Maximus's intervention.

3 Emperor Vulcan Found Himself Condemned To Another Dimension By Black Bolt

Vulcan from Marvel Comics

For a time, the Inhumans ruled the Kree Empire with Black Bolt as their emperor. At the same time, Cyclops and Havok's dangerous brother, Gabriel Summers aka Vulcan, had seized control over the Shi'ar Empire. Looking to expand the Shi'ar Empire, Vulcan set his sights on Kree territory. This led to the War of Kings.

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In the final stages of the conflict, Black Bolt and Vulcan met in person for a parlay. Naturally, a battle broke out between the two emperors. During the fight, Black Bolt detonated a "T-Bomb," which seemingly killed both men. However, the explosion actually tore a hole in the fabric of reality, imprisoning both of them in between dimensions.

2 Black Bolt Helped His Son, Ahura, To Defeat Kang The Conqueror

Kang the Conquerer, looking stoic in Marvel Comics

After killing the corrupted version of his son, Ahura, Black Bolt went on another time-traveling excursion to save his son from Kang the Conqueror's influence. When Blackagar finally found Ahura, Kang wasn't so willing to let the boy go.

Black Bolt managed to convince Ahura to turn on Kang, and the two conquered the Conqueror. Kang was forced to retreat, and Ahura went home with Black Bolt and the rest of the Inhumans. Kang's combination of technology and ruthlessness make him nearly unbeatable, especially given his mastery of the timestream. Beating him was truly a feat worthy on an Inhuman King.

1 Black Bolt Was Able To Greatly Inconvenience Thanos, A Victory In Its Own Right

Thanos screaming in Marvel Comics

Thanos has had many children over the years, and at one point he decided to exterminate them. On his was a child he had with an Inhuman woman on Earth. He wanted to know how to find his son, so he went to Attilan to find the Inhuman codex. Black Bolt challenged Thanos, and he let out a shout that detonated the Terrigen Bomb and destroyed Attilan.

Calling this one a victory is admittedly a stretch, but Black Bolt was able to slow Thanos down. Unfortunately, Thanos survived the blast and beat Black Bolt into unconsciousness, proving that Thanos can alloy victory with defeat.